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Just got "rescue" gold tegu

Danne Mar 08, 2010 04:17 PM

I just picked up a juvenile black & gold tegu from a pet store today. He's missing a lot of toes from bad sheds, and half of his tail (go figure on that one). They gave him to me for free since he had gone down in condition so much. He's decently feisty, luckily doesn't bite but is very fearful. Looks a little thin though they were feeding him that canned diet (the one made mostly of corn and vegetables) and a pinky about every week.

He's now in a 20L (he's only about 5 inches long, probably should be 6 or 7) with UVB, UTH, place to hide and ecoearth for humidity. I'll dress up the cage more, got him on an impulse though.

. Should I feed him tonight or wait a day? I was going to cook him an egg or put in some cold cuts for now. And how should I go about getting him handleable? He isnt aggressive now, just very fearful and flighty. They say he doesn't bite and he didn't open his mouth or anything for me. Thanks in advance for reading
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Danne
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1.0 '07 BRB (Monroe)
1.0 '08 BRB 66% het Anery (Ace)
1.0 '08 Pastel BP (Sebastian)
1.1 Leos (Bowser & Peach)
0.2 Dumbo rats (Josie & Chalupa)
0.4 cats (Cupcake, Smokey, Thelma & Emelia)
1.2 family members who can't wait until I move "the zoo" into my own place!
1.0 supportive boyfriend
1.0 '08 neutered grey sugar glider (Acco)
0.1 '08 whiteface sugar glider (Malina)

Email = dshoback@eden.rutgers.edu

Replies (9)

laurarfl Mar 09, 2010 09:46 PM

I don't have long, so can't get into taming now. I'd let him settle in for a day or two and definitely feed him. I'd go for a pinky or egg with calcium powder (no phosphorous), and stay away from cold cuts. He can also go for gut loaded insects. A hidey spot will be a big plus and he'll definitely want to hang out in there a lot.

Reaperreptiles09 Mar 10, 2010 08:11 PM

ill help cover the handling for ya.

basically its gunna be fearful for a bit (like all reptiles) but a good start could be maybe putting an article of your clothing (old t-shirt or piece of one) just so the tegu gets used to your smell. then you could try hand feeding over time, and handling him/her for short periods of time. you dont want to be too firm with him for stress reasons and to be sure your not going to accidentaly hurt him/her. and if you want just put his tank in a room your in alot (like a bedroom or sumthing) so he can see you through the glass. once he starts becoming more handleable you can put him on your bed for a little while when your in the room and just let him become accustomed to you! (i dont have any golds but i have argentine b&w tegus) hopefully that helped a bit

reaperreptiles@aol.com
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REAPER REPTILES

Danne Mar 11, 2010 02:26 PM

Thanks guys, that did help. I'll quit the cold cuts and stick to bugs. I dont want them gnawing at his healing wounds though, so maybe a pinky instead. My kitten has been eating Evo canned food (it's 95% of whatever meat is in there, chicken, turkey, venison, etc) and I've been popping that in in small quantities once in a while too.

He does love his hide, he goes under it and burys himself for much of the time. Never knew they liked to dig.

As for hand feeding, I've read that it can actually cause aggression and to feed them in a separate container. Any tricks to hand feeding that will prevent him associating fingers with food in a bad way?

Good idea on the t-shirt too, that works well with the sugar gliders, not a bad idea with Icarus (that's the tegu's name) too!
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Danne
---------
1.0 '07 BRB (Monroe)
1.0 '08 BRB 66% het Anery (Ace)
1.0 '08 Pastel BP (Sebastian)
1.1 Leos (Bowser & Peach)
0.2 Dumbo rats (Josie & Chalupa)
0.4 cats (Cupcake, Smokey, Thelma & Emelia)
1.2 family members who can't wait until I move "the zoo" into my own place!
1.0 supportive boyfriend
1.0 '08 neutered grey sugar glider (Acco)
0.1 '08 whiteface sugar glider (Malina)

Email = dshoback@eden.rutgers.edu

laurarfl Mar 11, 2010 03:30 PM

>>Thanks guys, that did help. I'll quit the cold cuts and stick to bugs. I dont want them gnawing at his healing wounds though, so maybe a pinky instead. My kitten has been eating Evo canned food (it's 95% of whatever meat is in there, chicken, turkey, venison, etc) and I've been popping that in in small quantities once in a while too.
>>
>>He does love his hide, he goes under it and burys himself for much of the time. Never knew they liked to dig.
>>
>>As for hand feeding, I've read that it can actually cause aggression and to feed them in a separate container. Any tricks to hand feeding that will prevent him associating fingers with food in a bad way?
>>
>>Good idea on the t-shirt too, that works well with the sugar gliders, not a bad idea with Icarus (that's the tegu's name) too!
>>-----

Some cat food is high in phosphorous, look for ingredients such as dicalcium phosphate. I don't feed cat food often, but if I do, I like Blue Buffalo Spa Selects. It also has whole meats, but has added fruits and vegetables for fiber, vitamins, phytonutrients, and no added phosphorous. Pinkies are good, but add calcium since they are also high in phosphorous. You can add bugs in a dish or refrigerate them so you can keep an eye out for any escapees .

Colombians love, love, love to dig and hide. Heck, so do my Argentines.

I prefer not to hand feed. If I need to do something like that, I use a fork. I have a couple that go bonkers for forks now, so you can see that association in working action. I can hand feed my adults a rodent or a chunk of fruit, but it's not a habit. The smaller guys are faster and eat like there's no tomorrow.

I like to feed in a separate place. I don't use an enclosure, I use the back porch or the kitchen floor and a paper plate. But they definitely have a separate feeding routine outside of the enclosure. This reduces eating substrate, reduces the feeding response in the cage, allows me to see who's eating what, makes clean up easy, and makes coming out of the enclosure a positive experience. If you want to do the same thing with yours, you can use a solid colored rubbermaid container with a lid and just leave him in there to eat. The trick is having to catch him.

When I first got my Colombian, years ago, we didn't know much about tegus...she was our first. She was about 6-9 months old and not very tame. We kept her in my daughter's room first and then moved her to the living room so she always saw people. We used a glove to pick her up in the beginning and picked her up calmly, slowly, and carefully, despite the tail whipping and huffing. We held her for a few minutes every day. When it became clear that she wasn't going to run off, we let her crawl in the bathroom or kitchen and began feeding her on the kitchen floor on a newspaper. (before then we fed her crickets and pinkies in the cage). This was all within a couple of weeks or so.

It seemed that once she was eating outside of the cage, taming became easier. She would eat, poop on the paper, then hang out in my daughter's blanket while my daughter read a book or watched TV. So the tegu was out for at least 30 a day.

We also used the T-shirt trick and we also talked to her all the time when she was out. She was quite tame when out of the cage, but would tail whip in her cage.

Now she's about 5 years old I guess. You can reach into her cage to pet her even though she huffs at you. She spends a lot of the day buried and will still tail whip if you mess with her tail or back legs. She comes out to eat and poop on the paper and then walks around or climbs up to your shoulder. She's not the same as my Argentine's, but she's cool, as is her friend, Chester, another Colombian. They just seem to be on edge more than the Argentines.

Reaperreptiles09 Mar 11, 2010 09:16 PM

very interesting! my tegu eats in her enclosure and shes not agressive about it.(argentine) but i have a hole in the top of her enclosure that i drop her rats in. and i reach for her through the door in the front of her enclosure. the calmness in picking her up was definately necessary! and shes absolutely sweet! doesnt huff at me when i reach in to pet her (98% of the time lol) and shes never bit me on purpose. (when she was little she juped at my hand while i was throwing a mouse in! hence the hole in the top lol) i recommended the hand feeding without even going into detail. i was told to use a spoon. i dont hand feed but ive heard it has great results. so i mearly suggested it. but i dont endorse it! lol
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REAPER REPTILES

Danne Mar 12, 2010 01:35 PM

Wow, thanks! That really clears things up! Thanks for all the tips, seems like I'm on the right track so far with all this info, I can't wait until he gets used to being handled. I was hesitant at first because I think rough handling was what made him lose his body parts, but I'm hopeful that he'll get used to it eventually. Even as he is golds aren't as bad as most people say.

I attached a picture (sorry its sideways) just from my phone, showing the broken tail & somewhat of the fingers. He's pretty resilient though with it all. Any ideas what could have caused it? I've heard malnutrition, bad sheds, or bad handling.
Image
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Danne
---------
1.0 '07 BRB (Monroe)
1.0 '08 BRB 66% het Anery (Ace)
1.0 '08 Pastel BP (Sebastian)
0.0.1 Gold Tegu (Icarus)
1.0 Dumbo rats (Wilbur)
0.4 cats (Cupcake, Smokey, Thelma & Emelia)
1.2 family members who can't wait until I move "the zoo" into my own place!
1.0 supportive boyfriend
1.0 '08 neutered grey sugar glider (Acco)
0.1 '08 whiteface sugar glider (Malina)

Email = dshoback@eden.rutgers.edu

Reaperreptiles09 Mar 15, 2010 07:28 PM

your pretty spot on malnutrition and bad sheds could have caused it. the sheds usually calim toenails and occasionally toes (but bad sheds are atributed to low humidity) the handling could also have caused this. its not certain but another consideration is that maybe it was kept with more than one at one time and was bitten by a more agressive cage mate lol i dont know much of the situation but im glad its in good hands now
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REAPER REPTILES

Danne Mar 21, 2010 11:21 PM

Thanks. There was only one in the cage, they admitted that it wasn't the kind of thing they normally get and a then-fired employee convinced them to.

Unfortunately he's lost another toe, although his humidity is good and nutrition is better (although he refuses to eat bugs of any kind) some were injured at the base and may not be healing well He is getting more aggressive though (hissing more and opening his mouth) and is more active, so I'm assuming it's a good sign for a gold. Hopefully if I keep up with handling it'll all work out.

Thanks so much all for helping so much. You've all been life-savers (literally!)! I'll keep you updated when he gets better.
-----
Danne
---------
1.0 '07 BRB (Monroe)
1.0 '08 BRB 66% het Anery (Ace)
1.0 '08 Pastel BP (Sebastian)
0.0.1 Gold Tegu (Icarus)
1.0 Dumbo rats (Wilbur)
0.4 cats (Cupcake, Smokey, Thelma & Emelia)
1.2 family members who can't wait until I move "the zoo" into my own place!
1.0 supportive boyfriend
1.0 '08 neutered grey sugar glider (Acco)
0.1 '08 whiteface sugar glider (Malina)

Email = dshoback@eden.rutgers.edu

groundskeeper24 Mar 27, 2010 04:14 PM

Once the tegu gets acclimated it'd probably be a good idea to get in a soak once or twice a week. Just clean out your tub and put in some warm water. Leave him in for 15 or 20 minutes. I know you're doing what you can for in-cage humidity, but this is a good hedge in case the cage just doesn't hold moisture well. It will also be additional handling which will help a little with getting him used to you. Good luck and preserve those remaining digits!

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